Russian deputy prime minister to supervise over UN conference in 2019

Published on : Wednesday, January 10, 2018

Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Mutko will be presiding over the preparations for a UN conference next year, less than a week after being sidelined from the preparations for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.

Mutko was asked to resign as the head of Russia’s World Cup Organizing Committee last Friday after facing increasing pressure over allegations that he oversaw a state-sponsored doping scheme at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

The former sports minister will now spearhead the organizing committee for a UNWTO General Assembly in St. Petersburg in 2019. Last month, Mutko announced that he would temporarily step down from his role as the head of Russia’s Football Union, and said that he would focus on fighting his Olympics doping ban. Russia denies accusations of running a state-sponsored doping scheme at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi.